Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/96443424776
Abstract:
Over the course of the last forty-five years, 1,532 United States citizens have been executed as punishment for capital offenses (Death Penalty Information Center, 2020). False convictions do occur, with 185 former death-row prisoners having been exonerated of all charges in the last forty-eight years (Death Penalty Information Center, 2021). In order to avoid biased rulings, capital cases are tried by juries that are neither entirely opposed to the use of capital punishment, nor in favor of its use on all capital murder cases. Numerous studies have explored religious factors that might bias a juror, and thus disqualify them from participating in a capital case (Applegate et al., 2000; Young, 1992; Rade et al., 2016). There has been minimal literature about the influence of afterlife beliefs on death penalty beliefs, with the existing literature focusing primarily on Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell.
The objectives of the present analysis include determining whether levels of optimism about an afterlife are related to stance on the death penalty, exploring the roles of race, age, and political party affiliation in this relationship, and discussing the implications of these findings on the selection of a capital case jury.
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